The iPhone 5 was launched in China the last week and as per the latest report, iPhone 5 made a record sales of 2 million units in its opening weekend. A statement was released by Apple about the same in which Tim Cook described the same as

Customer response to iPhone 5 in China has been incredible, setting a new record with the best first weekend sales ever in China. China is a very important market for us and customers there cannot wait to get their hands on Apple products.”

Indeed China is a big market for Apple but yes the company seems to be getting stiff competition from Android, currently the biggest threat to Apple. Android-powered devices are eating up the growing smartphone market in China but the recent love shown by Apple fans in China shows that Apple is still going strong in China. Apple is presently trying hard to increase its reach in China by partnering with China Mobile - the world’s largest carrier with more than 700 million customers.

China is next only to the US in terms of revenue generation for Apple. Apple has also planned to launch iPhone 5 in the 50 new markets of China to speed up its phenomenal growth.

Apart from China, iPhone 5 was also launched in other countries on last friday. Below is a list of those countries -

Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Ecuador, Grenada, Indonesia, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Kuwait, Macedonia Malaysia, Moldova, Montenegro, Panama, Paraguay, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Taiwan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

And below is a list of countries where the iPhone 5 is scheduled to be launched on Dec21-

Barbados, Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St.Vincent & the Grenadines, Tunisia, Uganda and Vietnam.

This launch of iPhone 5 from Apple has been the most aggressive one with Apple making it sure that iPhone reaches to atleast 100 countries in just 3 months. And Apple seems to have done it !!